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Texas attorney general seeks jail for Beto O’Rourke over funding Democrats’ walkout

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has asked a local judge to consider jailing Beto O’Rourke, saying the former congressman was openly defying a judicial order blocking him and his political group from fundraising and paying the costs of Democrats who left the state to stop Republicans from passing a new congressional map.

Tarrant county district judge Megan Fahey granted a request from Paxton last week halting O’Rourke and a group aligned with him, Powered by People, from fundraising. The order bars the group from using funds to pay the costs of Texas lawmakers during the special session or paying the $500 daily fines the lawmakers face for each time they are absent.

In his Tuesday, filing, Paxton said O’Rourke had continued to fundraise after Fahey’s ruling, pointing to a post on X soliciting donations on ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform, and requests to donate during a rally in Fort Worth last week.

Paxton requested O’Rourke be fined $500 for each instance in which he defied the court’s order and “be confined to jail unless and until he demonstrates a willingness to abide by the court’s orders pending the outcome of this lawsuit”.

At the urging of Donald Trump, Republicans are seeking to pass a new map that would give them five additional seats in Congress. O’Rourke’s group has been one of the main funders for Texas Democrats as they’ve fled the state for weeks to deny Republicans in the state legislature a quorum to conduct business.

Many of the lawmakers are currently in Illinois, and Powered by People has been a leading funder in covering expenses, according to the Texas Tribune. Paxton and Texas governor Greg Abbott have been trying to ratchet up the pressure on them to return to Texas.

Paxton has also launched an investigation into Powered by People. O’Rourke filed his own lawsuit against Paxton in El Paso seeking to halt that investigation.

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